


Wandering Appalachia

by Slothssassin



Category: Fallout - Fandom, Fallout 76
Genre: Gen, Long Shot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28484478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slothssassin/pseuds/Slothssassin
Summary: Emilia Goodridge, her cousin Lucille Abbott-Stappleton and the other Residents finally leave Vault 76 after 25 years. This story will cover the cousin's adventures in the Wasteland, trying to connect the main quest line with their rather personal experiences.Lucille Abbott-Stappleton belongs to Líaorban on Tumblr!
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	1. Reclamation Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter Emilia, Lucille and the other Residents finally leave Vault 76. Everyone is fascinated but also feeling a bit melancholic - after all, those who decide to go explore the state will leave their loved ones behind for a while.
> 
> I use a Greek word in this chapter: φίλος meaning friend or mate - Emilia and Lucille are part Greek and Em often speaks it.
> 
> Liv Finlay belongs to my sister @katajanokka on Tumblr. Penny Singh belongs to @overboss on Tumblr.

**Emilia, 23rd of October 2102, Vault 76**

The beating of her heart was almost as loud as the thunderous noise that echoed around her, making the ground shake beneath her feet. Before her, the great Vault door opened agonisingly slowly. Emilia had never seen the world outside of Vault Tec’s protective walls. The “real world”, as she called it, had only taken shape in her mind after the numerous stories her parents had told her, or the school courses about pre-war history she had eagerly taken part in. Smiling, she caught her father’s sight. He was almost looking hysterical, grinning broadly, tears sparkling in his eyes. Next to him stood her mother, who radiated, as usual, complete serenity.

The crowd in front of Emilia fell silent after the Vault’s massive door had opened up enough to let the first ray of sunshine fall on their faces. Em closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of the new world, which was carried inside with a slight gust of wind. Next to her, she felt her cousin Lucille do the same. Em looked at her, grinning in the same manner as her father had done before.

“I can’t believe it, Cil.”

“Neither can I”. 

Her voice trembled slightly and Emilia could see the gleam of hope in her cousin’s eyes before she turned back to the now fully open door. The first inhabitants of Vault 76 had already stepped out, the crowd slowly moved towards the opening, and Emilia couldn’t hide her excitement. Three more steps, two - unconsciously, she held her breath as she stepped out of the Vault - after 25 years, and thus for the first time in her life.

In a matter of seconds, impressions rained down on her, far too many to even try to decipher. Most prominent was the warmth of the sun on her skin, and the sudden brightness that made her eyes water. Emilia drew in the fresh air almost greedily, and for a few moments, she felt like she was the only person in the world, ready to stand in the blazing sun forever, just to enjoy her own existence.

Cil grabbed her arm, boundless joy written on her pretty face, blue eyes sparkling.

“Em, it’s beautiful!”

“I know!” 

Emilia beamed at her cousin, unable to say anything else, before gazing at the nearby rocks and the yellowish grass that surrounded the bunker that had been her home for 25 years. The other Vault dwellers seemed to feel the same - after a few silent moments, one after the other broke out into irrepressible cheers. Emilia couldn’t blame them - she had grown up in the Vault, but still, her parent’s stories and the pre-war pictures she had seen had sparked a fierce desire to leave the bunker’s four walls and travel on her own through West Virginia. If she was already amazed, how exciting must it be for her parents and the other inhabitants their age to finally see the world they left 25 years ago again?  
Now they were standing in front of Vault 76’s giant door, the small square in front of the bunker ending in a staircase leading down to the valley, here and there peppered with yellow leaves. Emilia grinned again - soon she would go straight down those exact stairs and be free to explore the world.

As the excitement subsided, however, she felt how helplessness and a certain sadness overcame the crowd. It was time to split up. A hand touched her shoulder, and as Em turned around, she looked at the face of her closest friend, the one person next to Cil and her parents she trusted the most.

“Marius!”

Her friend smiled, but he too couldn’t hide his sadness. Em gave him a tight hug.

“I’ll miss you more than anyone else φίλος” she whispered, knowing it would be even harder for him to let her go.

Only 24 years young, but the grief over losing his parents in an accident in Vault 76 had already given Marius wrinkles on his forehead.  
She had Cil - he would probably withdraw himself from everyone. Her only hope was that he would finally be able to find friends in his colleagues at the infirmary. The worry was apparently written on her face, as Marius smiled bravely.

“I’ll be fine, Em. You’re surely coming to visit me if you break your leg, or get a mutation from the rads, or if you need the help of a qualified nurse for any other reason.”

“Dude, you’re my best friend, of course I'll come to visit you. Even if I break two legs and need to crawl to you.” Em snorted.

Sure, she had known before that her parents, Marius and many others who had lived in Vault 76 would move to a nearby settlement and not travel with her. It had been her own decision to explore Appalachia with Cil and not become a part of the community that would now be founded by the other Vault dwellers. But that did not mean it was less painful to leave her family and her closest friend behind now.

Silence finally came in as the Overseer’s surrogate climbed on a nearby stone to say a few words. The Overseer herself had already left Vault 76 around a week before Reclamation Day - to check the surroundings, she had said, and told the Dwellers who intended to travel around to visit her Camp near the Vault. The surrogate kept talking, but Em’s thoughts wandered off. She had never been good at listening to authority figures if there were other things to think about. Excitement and a certain melancholy fought in her. She couldn’t wait to finally head out with Cil, but this would also mean to be separated from her confidants for an uncertain time. 

With difficulty, she averted her gaze from the nearby trees that billowed their last leaves in the wind, and let it wander over the crowd, everyone focused on the surrogate. Emilia’s aunt, Cil’s mother, and her husband exchanged a happy look before turning back to the speaker. Besides them stood Leo Banter, a fellow mechanic Em had dated a few times. Liv Finlay, a woman a few years older than her and Cil, she had always admired for her individualism. Penny Singh, a loose friend from school, who returned her gaze and waved at her, smiling. Slight discomfort rose in Emilia - would she ever see those people again? They had been warned of the dangers of the Wasteland. They had even trained with weapons. But she had never thought about how dangerous the world could really be. 

Her thoughts drowned in the applause for the surrogate. Quickly, the crowd started to spread. For those who decided to explore the Wasteland, it was time to say goodbye to family members and loved ones. Time for Em to start on her way with Cil. And despite the upcoming farewell and the prospect of potential dangers in radioactive West Virginia, a smile spread across her freckled face. 

It was also time to finally go on her very own adventure.


	2. You must rebuild

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emilia and Lucille spend the night near the Giant Teapot and reflect on their first 3 months outside of Vault 76. They decide it's time to get some stability in their lives - and what could be a better start than building yourself a place you can call home?

**Emilia, December 2102, Giant Teapot**

Ferals, Deathclaws, Mirelurks - they really had seen it all by now. All the mutated creatures the nuclear bombs in the Great War had caused. All that had become of the people who hadn’t been lucky enough to get access to a safe bunker. Appalachia was empty, desolate, and not necessarily as beautiful as they had imagined it to be. In addition to the damage the radiation had caused to the country, there was also some kind of disease that had transformed the people of West Virginia, burned their skin and adorned it with green glowing wounds. The Overseer of Vault 76 had called them “Scorched” on the Holotapes she had left at different places in Appalachia - Lucille and Emilia had found a few so far. Worse than the terrible appearance of the Scorched was their mental decay though. Reduced to simply killing everything they saw, they seemed to be led by the one instance that had caused the disease - the Scorchbeasts, huge, radioactive, bat-like monsters. Emilia still remembered the first time she and Lucille had seen a Scorchbeast during a visit to the Ash Heap in southern Appalachia. It suddenly swept through the sky, throwing a giant shadow on them. Luckily it hadn’t seen them back then, and the girls had been able to avoid a fight with the beast.

The first few days after the cousins had left the Vault they scouted places near the bunker, carefully enjoying their new found freedom, but still jerking at every unknown sound. Being separated from their family and friends hadn’t been easy, but at least Emilia still had Lucille, her cousin and best friend she could rely on even in the unfamiliar surroundings. There wasn’t much time to miss her relatives and friends anyway - although the environment around Vault 76 wasn’t directly dangerous, the two had already met some strange creatures there, some of them they even had to fight - mostly mutated dogs, as Em suspected.   
Way more time though had taken up exploring the area - Lucille and Em could not help but take a break now and then, even in unspectacular places, to observe nature. After all, both had no memory of the world as it had looked like before the nuclear collapse. They also had to get used to the nights under the starlit sky. Not only did the construction of their camp take its time, also the strange noises often kept them from finding sleep. Emilia had to admit that, however, despite her chronic sleeping problems, she could fall asleep more easily in the Wasteland than in the Vault - presumably because of the exhaustion that exploring Appalachia entailed.

After a few days outside of the Vault, and after safely celebrating Cil’s 28th birthday near their former home, Lucille and Em dared to take steps further into the Wasteland. Before the Overseer had left the Vault she had advised every explorer to visit her camp near the town of Flatwoods. It had been a small shock for Em and Cil when they finally discovered the makeshift camp and found workbenches, ammunition, emergency kits, but not the Overseer herself. She had only left a Holotape on which she briefly described the predicament Appalachia was in, told them about the danger of the Scorched plague, and encouraged the explorers to join a group called “The Responders”.

* * *

Em sighed and blew a strand from her face. Her hair really showed how much time had passed. Instead of short hair with neatly shaved sides, she now had a head full of black, almost chin-length curls that hung in her face at every opportunity. It was about time to let Cil cut it again.

Three months had passed since they had left the Vault. Months full of adventures, but also of hard fighting, fresh wounds and fear. The Overseer’s warning that the Wasteland was dangerous had definitely not been a lie. Nevertheless, Cil and Em did quite well so far - Lucille had already been one of the best shooters in the Vault training, and Em was also quite good at handling weapons, especially from a long range. Mistakes always happened, however, so that both had gained some scars during their time in Appalachia. 

Over these three months the Overseer’s Holotapes, which they had found in her camp, in Flatwoods and at other places that seemed important to her, had led Cil and Em mainly through the south of Appalachia. They had briefly met the Responders, a group of survivors in Flatwoods, as the Overseer had recommended, to get information on survival in the barren Wasteland. In the end, however, they had gained something much more important - a vaccination against the Scorched plague. Em snorted with a grim expression, remembering how they had attacked a horde of Ferals to get their DNA, something they needed in this special inoculation. A small scar on her left forearm was proof of this story, and she certainly got off easy.   
Ultimately, Emilia had to admit that the Overseer’s Holotapes had definitely sent them on an important journey - being immune to the Scorched plague was probably one of the most crucial prerequisites for survival in Appalachia.   
Important enough for the girls to briefly return home, to the settlement founded by the former Vault 76 inhabitants, even if they hadn’t planned to go back that early. The settlement was still growing, but the elders had already chosen to name it “Reclamation City” - a functional, but not very imaginative name, thought Em. The cousins had gathered a few fellow Vault Dwellers who had been at Reclamation City at the same time, and claimed the inoculation for all the former Vault 76 inhabitants - which had been quite the task, considering all the clean jars and syringes they had to collect for it.

Cil coughed, interrupting Em’s thoughts. She had slipped closer to the fire and warmed her hands; her face illuminated by the orange-red light. They had found refuge in a house near the Giant Teapot, one of Em’s favourite places in West Virginia. It was December, and the cold temperatures that prevailed now had simply made it impossible to sleep in tents outside. So over the past few months, Cil and Em had steadily moved from one abandoned house to another and had learned to cope with what fit in their backpacks.

Emilia looked at her cousin. Her black hair had become longer in the meantime as well. Instead of an elaborate hairstyle, Cil wore it loose more often, so that the shiny strands fell over her shoulders. She was still as young and beautiful as when she had won the Nuka Girl contest in Vault 76. But the constant vigilance was written all over her face, a result of their continuous struggle for survival. Emilia could also see a certain sadness on it and guessed that her own face was drawn in the same way. Both hadn’t seen their family and friends for too long, and the worry that Scorchbeasts, Mole Miners or some other terrible creature could attack even a fortified settlement didn’t let them go.

As if she had read her mind, Cil cleared her throat.

“We should go home again, don’t you think?” she said and looked at Em briefly.

Emilia returned her gaze before turning to the fire.

“I don’t really know what that is anymore, home.”

“Yes, I feel the same way.”

Cil exhaled through her nose and gave Em an understanding look.

“You mean back to the settlement, I know.” Em mumbled, “We should definitely do that“.

Both remained silent for a moment before Emilia spoke again.

“I was thinking, Cil. It’s cold as fuck outside, and it won’t get any better in the next few months. Then all these creatures, damn, it’s time to seriously think about how we should go on, isn’t it? I mean, we can’t travel through Appalachia forever.”

Her voice had become louder and more determined with every word. Lucille, however, had to laugh

“Em, you were the one who was so excited about wandering around.”

Emilia had to laugh as well.

“And I don’t want to stop doing that. But it would be really nice to have a place we can always get back to.”

“Something different from Reclamation City, you mean?”

Cil ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.

“I’ve thought of that too.”

Em looked at her cousin, shrugging.

“I think we just have to accept that this is our life now, don’t we?” she said. “It won’t get any different. Remember what the Overseer said, about rebuilding Appalachia? Fuck, I don’t know now about the whole state, but maybe we could start with our own houses.”

Cil had to laugh again. Emilia still hadn’t forgotten how to swear.

"Something reasonable from you?"

Em smirked before her cousin continued.

"So, you want to build two houses, just like that? Out of nowhere?"

Emilia stretched her chin and put on a proud expression.

"Of course. Mechanic in the Vault, architect in the Wasteland."

Cil snorted, taking a sip of whiskey out of her mug. The sealed bottle they had found in a mouldered private house a few days ago had already emptied. Em took a sip as well and waited for Lucille's answer.

"We have some things to keep in mind if we really want to go through with this, Em. We need a suitable place, tons of resources... that will take a lot of time. You know that, don't you?"

"I know, Cil." Em's face had gotten serious. "But at some point we have to start, don't we?"

"You're right," Cil said.

Emilia followed her gaze through their poor shelter. Dust and dirt covered the stony floor. The shelves, which once must have offered souvenirs of the Giant Teapot, were now empty except for some scattered, mostly broken bottles and other garbage. Hazy moonlight fell through the dirty windows and bathed the corners, which were not lit up by their fire, in a bluish light. Their eyes met and Cil breathed out loudly.

"This is going to be a lot of work." 

"Sure," Emilia replied, a slight smile spread across her face. "But it will also be exciting. None of us has ever lived alone. But I have one condition.”

Cil looked at her questioningly.

"And that would be?”

"We’ll be neighbours”.

Both laughed.

"Of course, Em."

Giggling, they raised their mugs.

"To our future houses," Em said.

"Our future homes." Cil corrected.


End file.
